Valencia are on a  winless streak in La Liga and Gary Neville is on the hot seat right now. It won't get any easier for Valencia as they face FC Barcelona in the first leg of the Copa Del Rey. 

The last time these two teams met they played out to a 2-2 draw at Valencia in an enthralling encounter.

Form 

Barcelona enjoyed an important victory over the weekend as they beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 in the Camp Nou. After going down 1-0 on Koke's volley, Barcelona struck back with two goals from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez and took advantage of two Atletico red cards to walk away with all three points. Messi was lucky to walk away from the match as he was caught directly on the knee by the boot of Felipe Luis, which earned the defender a straight red card.

Barcelona now have a three point gap at the top of the table and finally some breathing room. But now they have to focus on the cup as they look to make it two years running as Copa Del Rey champions. With the first leg being in the Camp Nou, Barcelona will look to build up a good aggregate lead and make sure that Valencia don't score any away goals. 

Valencia has had a very tough start to the season. They only have two wins this calendar year and they are dropping in the La Liga table. After their 4-0 win in the first leg of the Copa Del Rey Round of 16 against Granada, Valencia have gone almost a whole month without a win. They most recently lost to Sporting Gijon 1-0 after a 1-0 win over Las Palmas in the second leg of the quarterfinals of the Copa Del Rey. Things are not looking up for Gary Neville as the man from England has failed to produce results after taking over the club last year. He is on the hot seat and it's not good right now. 

Team News

Valencia will be without the likes of star striker Paco Alcacer who is out with injury and new man Denis Cheryshev will likely not play as well. 

Things remain the same for Barcelona as the whole squad seems healthy at the moment. 

What They're Saying

"Out of one in a million [the court case] affects him .000001 percent," said Barcelona manager Luis Enrique when asked if a pending court case for Neymar will affect the player and his position in the squad (via ESPNFC). 

Enrique also added (via ESPNFC) : "We want to play well but we are aware of the challenge in front of us.". 

Prediction 

Barcelona are on fire at the moment and there seems to be no stopping them. Losing Alcacer will be a huge loss for Valencia as they will have to find offense elsewhere. It's only the first leg but Barcelona could finish off this tie in the first 90 minutes. 

Barcelona will take a 3-0 aggregate into the second leg.